Life Goes On...

This post is a few months late but then again... better late than never...

2010 came and went. It wasn't a joyride at all the entire year. Generally it was more downs than ups but then again, I always tell myself to look for the silver lining. I held on... charged on... and it's now the beginning of the 2nd quarter in 2011.

You peeps out there who know me well would know the SHIT that I had gone through the entire year. It hasn't been easy but I have made a few more really good friends who have stood by me, supported me and urged me along. A very big THANK YOU to all you gal pals out there. MUACKS! MUACKS!

2011 started off with a bang and I really do pray that it stays this way for months and years to come. Ups and downs are really a big part of my life but so far it's been a good start to the year.

Something that I've been waiting for years is finally happening soon. I am engaged to be married in less than 2 months from now. My bestest friend in the world got married and is going to be a mother. And I am going to be the proudest godmother out there.

Business is picking up although careerwise I'm probably going nowhere at my job. So I'll put in more effort into my business and make it flourish. God, please know I really need this. *prays hard*

So... here's to my life going on...

Celebrations! Good Times!

Choc & Cheese from Just Heavenly

First cake to kick off the celebrations... absolutely heavenly! Instead of icing, it's coated with cheese with just the right amount of sweetness (which is not too sweet). Dinner at Bellygood with fantastic folks made it a very special occasion.

Blueberry Cheesecake from San Terri

My family came from Ipoh for the celebrations this time (as was last year). Quiet weekend spent at home with my family made it a very special day indeed. Pure bliss!

But celebrations in my family are never without food so it was off to Chili's BSC (which turned out to be not a great encounter but we'll leave that for some other time). And since my younger sis celebrates her birthday just 6 days after mine, we ALWAYS have a joint celebration. Darned waiter put the wrong number of candles (a serious case of acting too smart) but the candlelight does make it look good :)

This year, my sis made me something very special for my birthday. Check out the custom-made jewellery she made for me. OK, it was initially just the bracelet but greedy me wanted the whole set so here it is! Thanks!!!

It's almost here...

Sorry yet again... it's been months... no excuse on my part but there really hasn't been much happening that is out of the ordinary and worth blogging about. Some of you who are closer to me would probably know the stupidest and damnest thing that has happened to me this year. Probably still not worth mentioning here as I'm not about to let stuff like that ruin my blog... haha

Life still goes on despite whatever that happens.

I'm looking forward to this weekend. It's the first time my parents will be coming to KL to celebrate my birthday with me. Oh gosh... sometimes I do feel old but I still have all this energy deep inside me.

I guess that's what they mean by feeling young at heart and it probably helps when you start hanging out more with people younger than you. I think it really helps a lot!

So... till my next post... hopefully I will remember to take pics of this weekend.

Till then...

To cut a long story short....

Lanterns!

The residents of SS4 in PJ had their inaugural lantern festival potluck earlier tonight and it was a blast! The food just kept on arriving and I kept stuffing myself.... It is 1.30am now and I am still absolutely stuffed. I think I'm just gonna fast tomorrow all the way till dinner....

Of course the highlight of the night are the handmade lanterns by Uncle Khor. He's famous throughout Malaysia for his award-winning lanterns which are made from recyclable items. Anything you can imagine.... from styrofoam plates, mineral water bottles, styrofoam boxes, foam sponge sheets to name just a few....

All these below were on display tonight and I just can't but be in awe of all of them... They are absolutely just amazing...

To usher in the year of the bull, he made a friendly bull bearing CNY goodies. If you observe closer, the ears and tail of the bull twitch every now and then as if welcoming and beckoning you to try the goodies he has brought.

The plate of CNY goodies by the friendly bull. From mooncakes to pomelo to sliced dried minced pork to chinese tea. If you look closely, the sliced pork looks just like the real thing!!!!

A lantern made from paper cups. Honey bees all around it as if they are looking for pollen.

Lantern of local fruits. The durian looks shockingly real and the hairs on the rambutan were stuck on one-by-one painstakingly!!

A basket of dragonfruits and vegetables. That's not the highlight of this lantern. Notice the 2 chickens on the top of the basket handle? They are attached to a motor inside the lantern to mimick the movement of cockerels pecking at worms they find on the ground. And if you look even closer, you will notice a little pink worm that the chickens are trying to get to. The worm moves too!

Spider lantern

CNY lantern for Thean Hou Temple competition. Requirement was that everything must be recyclable items. This is the champion, by the way...

Basket of fish and vegetables.

Bouquet of flowers

Lantern made from mineral water bottles

A giant teapot with revolving tray of mid autumn festival goodies

Another basket of fish and vegetables. The chinese cabbage is made from combination of styrofoam boxes and mineral water bottles sprayed randomly with a glue gun to create the vein effect on the leaves. The capsicums are made from the bottoms of 100 plus bottles and the goldfish are made from cut out styrofoam plates.

Lantern of 2 giant pumpkins with butterflies

Uncle Khor distributing choco berries to kids at the party

The party was graciously attended by PJU MP Y.B. Tony Pua and ADUN Dr. Cheah Wing Yin. Uncle Khor had made a lantern in the shape of the DAP Rocket after DAP won the election in PJU in 2008. He later presented the lantern to Tony to be displayed at his office.

15Malaysia... 15th Movie... Rojak

15Malaysia... 14th Movie... Lollipop

15Malaysia... 13th Movie... Healthy Paranoia

15Malaysia... 12th Movie... Duit Kecil

Pet Updates

I'm happy to report that Jane's eye is healing well after putting eye drops the past few days. Made her wear that stupid looking neck collar so that she doesn't scratch her eye. She looks really ridiculous in that thing and she keeps bumping into the wall and other things around her. Hopefully another 2 days and she'll be back to normal.

15Malaysia... 11th Movie... Meter

Rainbow Phenomenon In Ipoh

Ok, I think you guys are going to think I'm crazy but this is really the first time I'm seeing this. Not my first time seeing a rainbow of course but a rainbow in this manner is really a first for me....

The brightest area is where the sun is and the circle around it is the rainbow which we saw. This was just right outside my house. The black line at the bottom of the photos is my house awning. It wasn't easy to get these shots as the sun was shining directly into my eyes. All in all, this phenomenon lasted about 10 minutes and it was gone.

I have yet to have time to look this up on the internet to find out exactly how this happened. Stay tuned to see if I do manage to find some info on this....

Aarrggghhh.... Trespasser Killed

Woke up this morning to find a dead kitten in the garden and Jane with her right eye swollen. I have no idea what time it happened but I'm pretty sure right until I went to bed at 1.30am last night there was no kitten sounds nor my dogs barking. So it must have been when I had already fallen sound asleep.

I guess the poor kitty did put up a good fight and scratched Jane's right eye. It's swollen quite bad. Have put eye drops for her and hoping it will heal soon. Didn't see blood dripping so I think it doesn't warrant a visit to the vet as yet. Will monitor closely to see how it heals.

Sigh.. why is it always Jane who gets herself into these things???? It's always her!!! Jack and Jill do get into mischief now and again but never to this extent where they get themselves injured. What am I to do with Jane? It's been so long and it doesn't look like anyone's going to adopt her although I'm above the limit of 2 dogs per household. Sigh....

15Malaysia... 10th Movie... Gerhana

Mummy's Birthday.... Coming Soon

I'm back in Ipoh again for the weekend to celebrate Mummy's birthday which is on Sunday. Have planned an 8-course dinner at the new Overseas Restaurant and invited a few of my parents' close friends to join in the celebration. The more merrier. Let's hope the food is as good as they preach since the restaurant has opened a new branch.

On the menu is a starter dish, suckling piggy, steamed patin fish, chicken with ham & kailan, asparagus with prawns, tofu, longevity noodles and water chestnut dessert. Will update my food blog with pics and reviews of the dishes. So keep a look out.

Mummy also requested for a blueberry cheesecake. Of course I panicked when she told me that's what she wanted. I have no idea where to get good cheesecake in Ipoh, what more blueberry cheesecake. Turns out, it's mummy's fave, my sister's fave and my fave.

And so, JJ Cakes to the rescue. Have ordered it specially made for tomorrow. Now I'm just hoping that a 1kg cake will be enough to satisfy everyone's appetite. 

Decided to join my parents at their regular gathering with some friends. My objective? To sample the oh-so-talked-about stewed yam with pork (wu tao kao yok) that one of their friends make. OMG!!! It's just simply heavenly. The yam is soft and filled with the aroma of the spices. The pork is stewed to perfection. Juicy and the fatty part literally melts in your mouth.

And despite the age difference, (I mean, come on, the entire group are all my parents' age) we really had a great time. The jokes, the conversations.... who says it's boring to hangout with older people. They're probably more fun to be around as they share their stories and tell you jokes from their younger days. In fact, I think I should do this more often... haha...

I'm off to bed now. Early morning tomorrow as we're headed to some breakfast at the marketplace. My usual hong kong style chee cheong fun is waiting for me :)

15Malaysia... 9th Movie... Slovak Sling

15Malaysia... 8th Movie... One Future

15Malaysia... 7th Movie... Lumpur

15Malaysia... 6th Movie... The Son

15Malaysia.... 5th Movie... Halal